Riu Playa Del Ingles

Just time to relax and drink a bottle of our favorite Rioja on the balcony before we had to go out to eat.  Its very nice having company and going out all the time but its also very nice to have relaxing quiet times where you can be selfish and not have to compromise.

We went to Big Ben’s where we had met Tracy earlier to sample her steak pies.  It was very quiet in the bar and I ordered and Amstel's while Claire went for her usual red wine.  Claire got the last from the bottle and they had no more.  She proceeded to pour me a pint of Fosters.  When I complained she said that it was Amstel’s in that pump.  That would be illegal in England and probably is in the EU also.  Anyway we waited and waited for our pies then I had to buy more drinks and Claire had to settle for white wine which made her very grumpy with me.  We got most the way through that drink and Claire got up to complain and was told that they were just cooking the veg from fresh.  She got up again to complain and they said that the pies had just gone in the oven.  We finished our drinks and were told that the pastry had just gone on top of the pies.  We went to settle the bill and walk out when the pies turned up.  I have to say they they were very nice and the veg was all fresh cooked but we wont be going back there again.

We decided on a long walk along the beach rather than a drive for our first day.  We were both knackered the night before and I put the do not disturb notice on our door so we could sleep in.  I had a real bad nights sleep waking first at 12:25am, couldn't get back to sleep and listened to my podcasts until 2:30 when I tried again and eventually managed some disturbed sleep with those wide awake dreams.  Claire was reading her Kindle with the light on at 6am.  Better luck tonight.

We started our walk at Playa del Ingles beach and walked East to Playa del Corralilo where a lady gave Claire a scratch card and she won a free tee shirt.  I got one and mine had 5 stars and after she had gasped several times got all excited and told me I had won their star prize which was either and i-pad, 1 weeks holiday for two or €500 worth of holidays.  To find out which, all I had to do was suffer 60 minutes promotion talk that she assured us was nothing to do with time share.  She also gave us another card that said we had won a free bottle of spirits and a 200 pack of cigarets.  We said that we were going for breakfast and might claim them on the way back.  She then wouldn't give me my winning ticket or drinks and fags ticket either so I insisted on them back which she reluctantly gave me.

We proceeded to Playa del las Buras Barianco del Toro and then onto Playa del las Burras Puerto Chico.

They had plenty of the sand castles that seem to be getting more popular each time you go away.  The difference this time is that its the homeless bums with a stray dog that are doing them and begging.

Final stop before heading all the way back for lunch was Playa de San Augustine.

We still headed off at 9am in the morning and didn't get back until about 1pm so we managed a good walk and ended up back at the place where we saw the half chicken chips and salad for €3.90.  It was fablious; we will be going back there.  We had sat down at another restaurant but they only had those little tables and there were none with both sun and shade so we sat on adjacent tables.  The waiter told us that we couldn't have separate tables so we walked out.

Claire said that she wanted to go by the pool for the afternoon so I decided to head inland in the car and try to find two lakes that were on the map.  The roads got smaller and smaller and there was nowhere to pull over to take a picture so I just drove until I came to a dead end.  The satnav said I only had another 500m to go but I couldn't see anything.  I turned around and found a place to stop and reprogram the satnav for a different village and take a picture.  Again the road was closed with a barrier but this time there was a bus full of people at the end and diversions to the right up an even smaller road.  All the cars followed it but that too came to a dead end and we had to all turn around and come back the same way.  When we got to the bus lots of people were carrying their bags from the coach to a minibus so I guess it had broken down.  Tonight we plan on staying in with our books and I will cook spaghetti.